Plato And Aristotles Best Form Of Constitution Politics Essay

Plato And Aristotles Best Form Of Constitution semipolitical sympathies EssayBoth Plato and Aristotle believed that the best form of regimen is rule by the best, orAristocracy. This word did non implicate for them rule by the ruling class, as it did in early modern Europe they really believed that only the smartest, near temperate, most mature, most reflective, most educated, and the bravest should be in charge of government, that is, only the best (the Greek word for best isaristos).For Plato, the reportl city was one which reverberate the kosmos, on the one hand, and the individual on the other. As he described inThe democracy, the ideal city, orpolis, was one based on umpire and human virtue. It was a form of social and semipolitical organization that allowed individuals to maximize their potentialities, serve their fellow citizens, and live in accordance with universal laws and truths.A citys constitution is the make-up of its magistracies or offices. Every ordered state has a constitution, since every such state has some retardment of magistracies (Aristotle, Politics 278 b9, 1289 b15, 1290 a8-9). In Aristotles teleological philosophy organisation is al styluss for the sake of some end or purpose.The true end or purpose of the state, he says, is to help its members live, and to live a good life. Constitutions which rent at the good life for the citizens are true constitutions those which aim at the good of the rulers only are perversions (Aristotle, Politics 1279 a17-21). There are echoes here of Plato have in mind inThe RepublicSocrates argument with Thrasymachus, in which Socrates argued that government is an art the purpose of which is to further the good of the governed.Aristocracy. Rule by the best (aristos). In practice this unremarkably meant rule by the well-born, those of noble family, who referred to themselves as the best people.The generic name a constitution or code (politeia, constitution). In modern English polity is not a common word, tho when it is used it means form of government or type of constitution thus one might say of a democratic polity or a monarchical polity. Aristotle uses polity both in that way, as the generic name for a constitution of every sort,andas the name of one of the sorts. One of the kinds of polity is polity, i.e. the polity or form of government in which all citizens rule and is ruled in turn. The idea of polity is that all citizens should take short turns at ruling. It is an inclusive form of government everyone has a share of political power. He sometimes calls it polity, sometimes political or constitutional government these are interchangeable.Oligarchy, the generic name for rule by a few, is also the name of one kind of rule by the few, the perverted kind which seeks to further the interest of the wealthy few.Democracy means literally rule by the people, but Aristotle and other ancient writers use it to mean rule exclusively by the poor in their own interest.Class ification of ConstitutionsGoodBadOneKingshipTyrannyFewAristocracyOligarchyManypolityDemocracyThe good and bad columns get laid from Plato. This is the classification put forward by Plato. Plato used democracy for both kinds of rule by the many, because he adage little difference between good and bad rule by many. Democracy is too weak to do much good and at its wipe up too weak to do much harm, according to Plato.If, however, at that place be some one person, or more than one whose virtue is so leading(prenominal) that the virtues or the political capacity of all the rest admit of no comparison with his or theirs, and then he or they should be supreme and not bound by laws (Aristotle, Politics 1284 a3-17) that is, under those circumstances the city should be governed by a king or an aristocracy unfettered by rules and laws. Aristotle ofttimes alludes to this ideal constitution (Aristotle, Politics 1284 b25-35, 1288 a7-30, 1289 a30-2, 1293 b25-8, 1332 b17-25). But whereas Plato c alls the seventh the true constitution and the others imitations, Aristotle calls three of the others true, and mentions the seventh only incidentally. In Aristotle, Politics attention is focussed in the main not on the ideal form of government but on the second best, or best practicable. A similar point is made in (Aristotle, Politics 1290 a30-b20). The criticism Aristotle is fashioning here is that Platos classification obscures the really significant dividing line, which is not between the few and the many but between the rich and the poor.In chapter 8, the discussion (Aristotle, Politics 1309a) of the grounds on which various groups claim power in the state was very carefully detailed.These groups include the rich and the poor, and also the well-born (those who come from noble families) and the virtuous. The discussion continues to the end of chapter 13 (Aristotle, Politics 1297a). It begins with a consideration of thepurposefor which the state exists, because this testament determine who should rule. The discussion reaches no firm conclusions, but Aristotle seems to favour the Platonic view that power should be held by the virtuous.This brings us to the question whether the poor or the rich should rule? If the poor, because they are more in number, divide among themselves the property of the rich, is not this unjust? (Aristotle, Politics 1281a 13-15). Again, when in the first division all has been taken, and the majority divide anew the property of the minority, is it not evident, if this goes on, that they will ruin the state?(Aristotle, Politics 1281a18).This is an answer to some of Platos arguments against democracy.Among them they understand the whole (Aristotle, Politics 1281 b9). They need to discuss, and communicate to all, or most, what each has understood and for this they may not have the necessary time, goodwill or ability.To assign them some deliberative and judicial functions but not allow them to hold office singly (Aristotle, Politics 12 81 b30). This is in effect a combination of oligarchy and democracy. Aristotle himself thinks that the best practicable state, the one in which virtue has the best chance of influence, is one in which some political functions are assigned to the many poor and other functions to the few rich, so as to produce a balance of the classes.All professions and arts (Aristotle, Politics 1282a). Plato holds that government is, or can be, an art, and infers that only a few should rule because only a few can master any art. Aristotle suggests that the intelligent man who has study the art, but not enough to be a practitioner, may be a good judge. Also, the consumer may be better than the producer at judge the quality of the product (Aristotle, Politics 1282a17).Plato set forth a five-fold classification to describe how the city ought to be governed. The best form of government, he argued, was an aristocratic stupefy based on the ruler ship of philosopher kings. A second form of government he called timocracy, or rule by a privileged selected of guardians, or strong men. Oligarchy, the third type, consisted of rule by the few. The remaining two, democracy and tyranny represented rule by the many.According to Plato, the ideal city had to be an enlightened one, one based on the highest universal principles. He insisted that only individuals who were committed to these truths, who could protect and preserve them for the sake of the common good, were fit to rule the city. bonnie a philosopher king, or an ideal ruler, involved a rigorous course of study that extended into mid-life Plato, Republic 540a. The ideal ruler was therefore someone elect by an inner calling, ordaimon, not by circumstance or privilege. Therefore, the ideal ruler was not someone chosen by circumstance or privilege so much as by an inner calling, ordaimon. This point is crucial because it distinguishes Platos ideal city from those of other thinkers who shared Platos faith in guardianship but favoured o ligarchical systems of government.Aristotle drew heavily on Platos vision but also criticized what he saw as its excessively idealistic nature. He believed that Platos republic could never exist in the real humankind.In any case, Aristotle made a number of improvements on Platos ideal in the interest of making it more practically useful. In his view, there were three basic forms of political organization, rule of the one, rule of the few, and rule of the many. The first form, at its best, led to monarchy at its worst, to tyranny, the second, at its best, to aristocracy at its worst, to oligarchy. And the third, at its best, to something he calledpoliteia at its worst, to democracy.Aristotle maintained that both monarchy and aristocracy wereidealforms of government, in the sense that they were virtually impossible to achieve in reality. He therefore invented a third form which drew from the unique strengths of both, politeia. This form combined rule of law and rule by the few. It wa s a intense formulation that incorporated many of Platos key elements (such as guardianship, the idea of self-sufficiency, and the critical role of law) while making it more practical and thereby attainable. For example, he introduced rural area ownership and ruler ship by lot as crucial elements of the idealpolis, while dispensing with what he considered unrealistic concepts such as distributive justice and voluntary rule.Aristotle a student of Plato, who himself did not like democracy, because the democratic assembly of capital of Greece condemned Socrates to death. Aristotle himself fell victim to the same assembly and was banished from Athens.All the major Greek philosophers thought democracy was the worst form of government. Plato, in his critique of democracy inTheRepublic, claims that it allows people to follow all their passions and drives without order or control (Plato, Republic 557 558) Aristotle claimed that the competing interest in a democracy makes for chaos rather than purposive and deliberated action. Democracy did not seem to work very democratically at all, in fact. In Athens, the democratic Assembly was usually dominated by a single powerful, charismatic individual this individual often dominated the Assembly because of his mien or oratorical skill rather than his individual worth. As a result, the democratic governments could make some surprisingly foolish decisions, such as the Athenian decision to attack Sicily without any cause or provocation. This ill-considered war destroyed much of the Athenian fleet and eventually led to the defeat of Athens by Sparta. The position of these charismatic leaders, however, was always very precarious. The democratic Assemblies could change character overnight they would often eagerly follow a particular leader, and then exile that leader often for no reason (this is Aristotles central objection to a democracy).If you can remember in the painting The School of Athens, Plato is pointing up because of his immaterial views (god, the afterlife). Then you will notice Aristotle pointing forward to demonstrate that his views develop from what is in front of him. Plato generally believes in ideas and focuses on the soul, the forms and the good. In Book 7 Plato wheel spoke of the allegory of the cave and how only the philosopher kings were able to see the light (Plato, Republic 514a), Whereas, Aristotle is a natural scientist who studies nature, his views were that the way the natural world works is the way the world works, basically everything is part of a larger organic pod and nature has a plan for everything, nothing is created without a purpose because things are naturally related.In my view I think Platos work in more than intriguing, he has a lot of views that are really interesting, but also it can be said that many of his ideas can be debated negatively either in his time or ours. I am of the belief that people would never agree with his ideas of state building, and his idea of the philosopher king, and so hence, his ideas were never brought to life, but in the same breath has left a great legacy for future generations to analyse. In comparison, there is Aristotle who is very critical of Platos ideas. Aristotle is a very practical person, whose philosophy I can explicitly say makes better sense when it comes to state building and the way the world works. He also had a view of which I really agree with and that was laws should rule not men.